tag:ekoester.com,2014:/feedGrowing on Trees2013-10-18T06:59:09-07:00Eric Koesterhttp://ekoester.comeakoester@gmail.comSvbtle.comtag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/dont-found-a-company-unless-you-love-excel2013-10-18T06:59:09-07:002013-10-18T06:59:09-07:00Don't Found a Company unless you Love Excel<p>“(Venture backed) Startups are all about math. Sooner founders realize that, the less emotional trauma &amp; confusion they’ll experience.” - Om Malik (@om)</p>
<p>Excel. Yes, you may scoff at it because it is a Microsoft product. Or you may thumb your nose at it because only accountants use it. Or heck, you may not see at all why it relates to a founder of a startup.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.madisonvoices.com/schoolmatters/images/math_excel.gif" alt="Startup Math isn&#39;t for Dummies">
But you’d be wrong. Don’t start a company unless you love Excel.</p>
<p>The reason is pretty simple. Your job as a founder is to make a math equation work. R &gt; E. You need to show how you can make the revenue you earn from a customer exceed the expenses you incur to get that customer. And you need to do it at “scale”, whatever that means in your world. Of course there are other costs and all, but at the core you need to prove on a small scale that you can get revenue above the costs to get that revenue.</p>
<p>Seems simple. Seems obvious. But you don’t really know the complexity of it until you are up to your eyeballs in tabs, pivot tables and complicated formulas. And you do that magic in Excel.</p>
<p>Startups are a math problem. And you need the best tool to solve it. It’s called Excel. Try to make Google Spreadsheet work, but eventually you’ll be like, “Why can’t this do X, Y or Z?” Yup, it’s because it isn’t Excel.</p>
<p>And I’d urge you to start early. Even if you are designing products or doing development work or selling – you should be using Excel. Your startup is one gigantic math problem. And everything really flows into it.</p>
<p>Excel. It’s a founder’s best friend. If you don’t like Excel, give starting a company a second though… seriously. </p>
<p><strong>Math is hard. It’s awesome, but definitely hard.</strong></p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/im-an-assistant-to-who-would-you-give-up-your-life-to-join-on-their-journey2013-08-18T19:27:13-07:002013-08-18T19:27:13-07:00"I'm an assistant to..." Who would you give up your life to join on their journey?<p>I’m 36. I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing (being an entrepreneur and starting a company I’m inspired by). I’m married to an incredible woman. I have a group of friends who keep me humble and laughing (great combination). I’m happy.</p>
<p>However, I was asked a question by a friend of mine who said, “Who would you drop everything for to be their Assistant, their Chief of Staff, their EA?”</p>
<p>I responded with the obligatory, “I’m exactly where I want to be…” blah blah blah.</p>
<p>“No,” she interrupted. “Who would you drop everything to work for, today? Not like report to them, but to be their assistant. Follow them around. Be in every meeting. Be like Leo in West Wing. That guy — the true assistant and guy who gets to see it all? Who would you give it all up for?”
<img src="http://media.spotcoolstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/leo-mcgarry-jed-bartlet.jpg" alt="Would you be the Leo to his President Bartlett"></p>
<p><strong>The Ultimate Mentor</strong>
It’s a challenging and thought-provoking question and something I couldn’t even answer at the time. This isn’t just an ‘oh, I’d love to work at X company.’ This is who would you give up your job, your path, your life to work for as their behind the scenes, get-shit-done, carry the briefcase guy. Who would you follow in the ultimate mentor role?</p>
<p>It’s an odd question to truly contemplate — particularly when you are on a path that you love. But as someone who prides himself on wanting to learn, improve, grow and make a dent, I realized that there are a few people I’d truly have to consider dropping everything for.</p>
<p>Who are your “put your life on hold” relationships that you believe could change everything? Would you work for Obama, Bill Clinton or how about Hillary Clinton? How about Meg Whitman, Steve Case, or Steve Balmer? Would you leave for a shot with Katy Perry, Ashton Kutcher or Brad Pitt? Could it be Carlos Slim or Bill Gates or Michael Bloomberg?</p>
<p><strong>My “Gotta Think About It Seriously” List</strong>
After spending some time thinking about the handful of people I’d be willing to go “all in” with, I came up with my seven. Here’s that list (in no order) of people I’d have to breath deeply, think long and hard and discuss with my wife to leave it all and work for them if the opportunity presented itself:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<strong>Richard Branson.</strong> He’s the ultimate entrepreneur. It’s hard to think of many people who have quite the reputation, the vision and the success. He’s thrown caution to the wind and continues to do so.</li>
<li>
<strong>Barack Obama.</strong> I’m a staunch libertarian, but it would be incredibly difficult to turn down working for the president — and in particular Obama with his star power, big agenda and unique look at life. I’ll be even more curious to see the legacy post-Presidency.</li>
<li>
<strong>Dalai Lama.</strong> I’m not particularly spiritual, but I believe deeply in the power of humans as interconnected beings. It’s a side of life I don’t really explore, but I believe Dalai Lama is one of the few people who could help me to process and reflect there. It’s a different journey, but one I’d consider (haircut included).</li>
<li>
<strong>Sheryl Sandberg.</strong> I’m a fan of Sheryl for a host of reasons, not the least of which is that she has helped to architect a company that has moved at warp speed, people love to work for, and is a leader in the public consciousness. Zuck gets much of the credit as the founder, but without her I don’t think you have a $100B IPO. She didn’t stop there pushing on social and political issues — which helps make her even more inspiring.</li>
<li>
<strong>Warren Buffett.</strong> I grew up in Omaha and have witnessed the impact one man has had on the region. He’s smart, focused and incredibly self-aware. Plus he’s done this over the long haul. I think his commitment to the Gates Foundation and the other family foundations is as compelling a case for working with Buffett as his billions are.</li>
<li>
<strong>Oprah.</strong> The first of my “one name” people on my list. I don’t care what she does or what she is doing, she just does it well. She’s a bit like Leonardo Da Vinci in that she seems to have insatiable curiosity — which I admire perhaps more than anything. I’d love to see the energy to be great up close, and I imagine some of it rubs off.</li>
<li>
<strong>Bono.</strong> I want to call him a musician, but he’s a businessman, a social statesman, an activist and much more. He made working for change cool long before it was cool. I’m guessing the journey with Bono would be consistently inconsistent, but consistently amazing.</li>
</ol>
<p>It’s a unique list. It’s a list I had to really consider. Each one has a very different rationale and would set life on a very different path. Some align with my life (Branson, Sandberg, Buffett) and some would be a complete change (Bono, Dalai Lama, Oprah). But each is someone that would force me to say, “Do you put it all aside to attach yourself to someone amazing?” Are there other people I’d consider? Most definitely. But this group is certainly a set that would be hard to turn down — that ask would make me stop and consider my path. Not an easy thing to think about.</p>
<p>But those are mine. It’s a little intimidating to be honest about who you admire enough to drop everything. But I think we’ve all got them. The more you love what you are doing, the more you may need to think hard about who you’d actually follow.</p>
<p>It’s a great process to think about. Write your list out. Maybe it’s categories of people. Maybe it is someone you find inspiring for some other reason. If you can find a way to spend time with people you find amazing, do it. Mostly it helps define who inspires you to model your career, life and time around.</p>
<p>Who would you give it all up to follow?</p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/for-sale-my-iphone-homescreen2013-08-14T14:13:16-07:002013-08-14T14:13:16-07:00For Sale: My iPhone Homescreen<p>As I flipped through the apps on my iPhone the other day, I wondered “Why am I uninspired by my Apps? I’ve got the same ones on the homescreen for the past 6 months.”</p>
<p>Now I’m not really a guy that goes to the AppStore to browse for new apps — mostly I discover through friends or through social media or a blog article. We all can admit discovery sucks for Apps and advertising sucks for App makers.But as an app users, I’d love a reason to try apps and explore new ones. However, I believe I/we need urgency to make it work.</p>
<p>So, here’s what I would love for someone to do:</p>
<p>I want someone to pay me to secure an App spot on the home screen of my phone. Right up front. Each week, they get to update that App to a new app. I don’t care what it is, but when I update my Apps, I’d love to see a new one replace the one from last week.</p>
<ul>
<li>Urgency. If I liked the one for that week, I am forced to add it — because it goes away the next time I update.</li>
<li>Discovery. It helps with the challenge of hunting and learning about new apps — I am getting a new app each week.</li>
<li>Advertising. I’m giving someone a slot on my phone in exchange for the ability to ‘advertise’ it directly to me. It’s personal, and right in front of my face.</li>
<li>Feedback. One of the challenging things about most advertising channels on mobile is its hard to test and learn. With this, you can tell <em>exactly</em> who kept it, who opened it, etc.</li>
<li>Customization. If this worked, you could select that you want a game of the week, or only sports themed, or social or whatever.</li>
</ul>
<p>You may have questions like ‘what if you don’t update’ or ‘what if you delete it?’ Totally fair, but that’s minutia. I’m curious how many other folks would sell a slot and check out the new app weekly?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this is possible given the rules of Apple or Google/Android. Sounds like a perfect Startup Weekend project. Any mobile developers want to come to a Startup Weekend with me and build this — I’ve got a decent track record at these things?</p>
<p>My homescreen is for sale. Who wants a spot?</p>
<p><img src="http://www.appsgeyser.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/app-for-sale.jpg" alt="Home Screen For Sale"></p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/customer-discovery-hacks-why-it-works2013-08-10T12:30:16-07:002013-08-10T12:30:16-07:00Customer Discovery Hacks: You've Been Miyagi'ed<p><em>The following is the first in a series of posts about using customer discovery in your company. Over the past 9 months, I’ve had the opportunity to teach customer discovery nearly a dozen times to hundreds of students, I’ve had the opportunity to work with Steve Blank and Bob Dorf directly on building a customer discovery course/curriculum for Startup Weekend, and I’ve been using customer discovery in my current startup process. These are a few of the tricks, techniques and ‘hacks’ I’ve learned during that time.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Selling. It sounds scary. You probably think of the guys on the used car lot or the telemarketers that call during dinner. And worse than hating the guys that make their living doing it – you can’t imagine <em>yourself</em> making calls and selling to people. </p>
<p>Selling sounds scary. That’s a fact.</p>
<p><em>But</em> what if I called it something different. Something softer and less scary. What if I said you were discovering things about your customers? Seems nice – almost benign, right? What if I told you <strong>not</strong> to sell, but to interview. Almost sounds like a fun game, huh?</p>
<p>Perfect. Customer discovery it is. Let’s go out and do 10 customer discovery interviews. Terrific – go out, do your interviews and let me know how they go.</p>
<p><strong>Steve Blank has become your Director of Sales</strong>
I know its crazy. Steve Blank tricked you. He told you to go do customer discovery interviews – and specifically said <em>not</em> to sell. It’s about discovery, right? </p>
<p>And you know what he did? He convinced you to start selling. And you liked it. Steve Blank was basically like Mr Miyagi – he got you painting the fence, sanding the floor, wax on wax off and <em>boom</em> you sold.</p>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/2ynryUjGFt8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>
<p>That’s the secret – you learned how to sell by thinking you weren’t even selling. And the reality is if <em>you</em> can sell your service or product, then someone who is a professional sales, BD or marketer can probably do some real damage.</p>
<p><strong>How to get better at customer discovery</strong>
Now you know the secret. The whole gigantic movement that has swept the startup and corporate world was essentially sales training 101. Don’t be mad, but realize that while the 'customer discovery’ or lean movement has been around for only a half dozen years, sales has been around for an eternity.</p>
<p>To get better at customer discovery, learn more about sales. You are probably never going to be Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross (watch the movie for some epic sales scenes), but you can learn how to be more effective. Early in my career, I got sales training by some of the best at Morgan Stanley – and soon as I started practicing and teaching customer discovery, I realized how valuable that training was. </p>
<p>And so start to learn how to sell, because every interview during customer discovery is a sale. Each time you are getting your interview subject to buy that you can solve something they’d be willing to let you solve. And so, treat <strong>each</strong> interview as a sale – did they buy what you were selling or did you buy that they had a real reason not to buy? </p>
<p>My favorite scene in Boiler Room – a great movie that actually teaches some tactical lessons about selling – stars Ben Affleck in the role as senior sales trainer/partner. </p>
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lofNPLZvTOs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="true"></iframe>
<p>What Ben’s character shares with us is the art of customer discovery – every conversation is a sale: did you sell them or did they sell you. And if they sold you, then that means something didn’t resonate: the value prop, the target customer was wrong or something else.</p>
<p><strong>Sales = Customer Discovery</strong>
When you are wondering, just why does customer discovery work – realize it’s because you are selling, which equates to learning how to eventually get to yes. Every rejection is a sale. Every acceptance is a sale. All of those sales are learnings that’ll focus you on the next step.</p>
<p>And to be completely clear – your goal in customer discovery is <em>not</em> to push someone who isn’t interested to buy. Again, treat it similar in the process you use to effectively sell (listening, tracking, engaging, asking, etc.) But if you’re onto something (and the customer interviews identify that they <em>want</em> to buy), then the initial discovery process (whether in sales or customer discovery) can quickly turn into a sale.</p>
<p>There you have it. Your friend Steve Blank is Mr. Miyagi and you’ve been painting his fence. Say thanks, because he just taught you how to sell.</p>
<p><img src="http://whall.org/blog/files/sweep-the-leg-large.jpg" alt="Now go out and sweep the leg"> </p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/sucking-in-your-entrepreneurial-gut2013-08-09T12:21:00-07:002013-08-09T12:21:00-07:00Sucking in your Entrepreneurial Gut<p>I’m right there with you. We all do it – well, except those genetic freaks who basically started doing crunches at birth to get their fourteen packs. But for the rest of us… we stand in front of the mirror and suck it in.</p>
<p><img src="http://images.wikia.com/uncyclopedia/images/f/fb/Truffleshuffle.gif" alt="Truffle Shuffle"></p>
<p>It’s human nature. My guess is if lions or tigers or gorillas had guts, they’d probably suck theirs in. Turns out animals in the wild with guts get eaten by some other animal without a gut. So guts aren’t really a thing in the wild I’m guessing (or that’s my logic anyways).</p>
<p><strong>Your (Entrepreneurial) Gut</strong>
We all have our own sort of gut. It’s that thing that you wish wasn’t there or didn’t exist or could be better, but you just don’t quite have it nailed. So you suck it in. And this is true for entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs – but today, I’m looking at all the other entrepreneurs out there.</p>
<ul>
<li>It’s probably the fact that your users aren’t monetizing well – but traction, yeah, you’ve got lots of users.</li>
<li>Or maybe its the fact that you’ve got a retention issue. They come and some stay, but a lot don’t.</li>
<li>How about the classic, “Is this a feature or a company” question? Maybe that’s the gut.</li>
<li>What about the “we outsourced all the development to India” gut? That’s a good one.</li>
</ul>
<p>There are no perfect startups, yours included. Every startup is by its very nature flawed. I think of startups a lot like one of those squeeze balls where whenever you squeeze on one side, another bit squirts out through the gap in your thumb and forefinger. </p>
<p>That’s startups. Sure, don’t pose for your photoshoot on TechCrunch or VentureBeat (sounds like TigerBeat, eh?) with your gut hanging out. But they know… you aren’t “crushing it” and there are some airbrushed abs at play.</p>
<p><strong>Find a place to let it out</strong>
Of course you are honest with your team (or hopefully at least your senior team/cofounders). Great, glad to see you letting your gut out while you are on the couch watching the NFL.</p>
<p>But I’d urge every entrepreneur to find a place to let it out. It’s that steam room at the gym where dudes with HUGE guts have been letting theirs hang out for years. Go find those dudes… or find other entrepreneurs like you… or find an advisor or investor you trust. </p>
<ul>
<li>Share that your fundraising isn’t going well.</li>
<li>Talk about how you may need to take a job to pay the bills and your spouse is pissed at you.</li>
<li>Open up about your latest hire being a douche.</li>
<li>You aren’t the first startup to struggle with the TC dip.</li>
<li>And yup, user acquisition, retention and monetization… those are all f-ing hard.</li>
</ul>
<p>The biggest point of growth for me as an entrepreneur was when I stopped sucking it in around the circle of trust (you know who you are) and started opening up to real feedback and guidance. Turns out you aren’t the first entrepreneur to suck at many things – you are just the first today. </p>
<p>And the funny thing is that the entrepreneurs who <em>know</em> the realities of starting a company are already judging you behind your back when you say you are “crushing it.” They know the realities and know the challenges – and if you come to them with questions, honesty and your gut hanging out, you’ll find a friendly person who can tell you it’s okay and how they handled it.</p>
<p>So find a place to be yourself, to let your gut hang out and heck, do the truffle shuffle. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5whaRkuipU" rel="nofollow">Do the Truffle Shuffle</a></p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/are-you-pursuing-your-goals-or-just-the-prerequisites2013-07-31T09:22:00-07:002013-07-31T09:22:00-07:00Are you pursuing your goals, or just the "prerequisites."<p>Over the past month, I’ve spent a ton of time with MBA students, recent grads considering their next job and folks a little bit into their career trying to find their path. What’s consistent across the board is that the happiest people are on their road towards their goal and those struggling are worried about what to do next that might one day help them reach that goal. So, which are you?</p>
<p>Are you doing what you want to do, or are you doing some prerequisites to <em>eventually</em> do what you want to do? It’s a question you should ask yourself – is what you are doing today the best and fastest way to get started becoming the <em>best</em> at something; taking you towards your goal?</p>
<p><strong>Prerequisites to Your Real Goal</strong>
A dozen years ago or so, I decided I should go to law school. Even now, my logic seems modestly sound – turns out more CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are JDs than MBAs. Since my goal (at the time) was to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company, made pretty decent logic to go get my JD.</p>
<p>BUT, I vividly recall a conversation with one my mentors (Nick Malden) who told me… “Wait, so if you want to be a CEO, why don’t you just join a company with a CEO or executive you admire and start climbing the ranks now? Learn how to be a great CEO, but learning from someone who is a great CEO (or could be.)”</p>
<p>I heard that and thought to myself: ‘Ah, law school will help me get there faster or it’ll help me avoid the crappy part of the journey or maybe it’ll get them to hire me directly out of law school as the CEO of GE.’</p>
<p><strong>10,000 Hours</strong>
Collective wisdom is that it takes 10,000 hours to become an 'expert’ at something. That means if you work a 40 hour a week job, doing <em>exactly</em> what you want to be an expert in, you’d need 5 years. Then it’ll be another 10,000+ hours until you can become really an expert or really great at something. (Think LeBron James just stopped at 10,000?)</p>
<p>So ask yourself, are you currently on the clock actually building that 10,000 hours of expertise or are you simply putting in time waiting or preparing to start your 10,000 hours? </p>
<p><strong>Self Deception</strong>
It’s funny what we do to ourselves. We convince ourselves we aren’t qualified or aren’t good enough or need these 5 things to be checked off before we can ever do what we REALLY want to do.</p>
<p>For me, I really enjoyed law school and even really liked being a startup lawyer. I worked my butt off to be a great lawyer even. But from my first few months on the job, I knew I was “checking a box” for what was next. And I was actually pretty darn good at the whole lawyering and business developing thing – but those 10,000+ hours (my five years plus as a lawyer and the time in law school) aren’t helping me to be an expert in building a company that can change the world. Sure, it’s helpful, but those cycles of company-building Eric are gone.</p>
<p>I knew the whole time I wasn’t passionate about being a lawyer – it wasn’t my calling in life. But I’d done what thousands of twenty-somethings do… we create a set of prerequisites we think are required to do what we <em>really</em> want to do. Some prerequisites are really required – listen, if you really want to be a doctor, then it’s required you go to medical school. I get that. But if you <em>really</em> want to work with kids, why start your medical career as a surgeon hoping someday to switch to pediatrics? If you really want to be an entrepreneur, why are you getting your MBA or taking a job at a large corporation? If you really want to be a chef, an artist, a pilot, etc., why are you selling insurance? Are those activities really helping you start the clock on your 10,000 hours?</p>
<p><strong>It’s all about cycles post 10,000 hours</strong>
Why does all of this matter? Maybe you spend 5 years doing prerequisites, finding your calling or just getting the confidence to do what’s next. Or maybe you need to for other reasons (family, fear, loans, etc.)</p>
<p>Again, I’m totally fine with that approach. </p>
<p>But know that’s what you are doing, admit it and be honest about it.</p>
<p>If your goal is to run for political office someday, then why aren’t you in the game <strong>now</strong>? If your goal is to start a company someday, then why aren’t you working for a startup <strong>now</strong>? If your goal is to teach kids, then why aren’t you doing something with kids <strong>now</strong>?</p>
<p>Once you’ve gotten your 10,000 hours under your belt, the world gets so much more interesting as you can then figure out how to maximize your impact – but it’s really difficult to do that until you’ve got those 10,000 hours down. I certainly don’t regret my law career (I don’t believe in regrets). Lawyer life served me well working with tons of startups and entrepreneurs, and I did get to be a part-time entrepreneur during that journey. But maybe I missed a startup cycle of my own in that time. Who knows?</p>
<p>Are you currently building your 10,000 hours… or waiting for some thing to say <em>now</em> is the time to start? </p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/software-you-could-learn-something-from-hardware2013-07-13T14:07:00-07:002013-07-13T14:07:00-07:00Software. You could learn something from Hardware.<p>How do you decide what to focus on? How do you say no? How do you figure out where to spend your day? How do you deliver an amazing experience? These are questions that all entrepreneurs do (read: should) be thinking about. But not every company and entrepreneur are created equal.</p>
<p><strong>Constraints</strong>
Last week I met with two entrepreneurs in the span of two hours – one was trying to solve a consumer problem with a software solution and the other was trying to solve a consumer problem with a hardware solution. Both were solid people tackling interesting problems. And in many ways, the meetings were exactly the same: customer feedback, MVP, designing experiments, team dynamics, fundraising, etc. etc. Lots of what we do are the same no matter what the company does.</p>
<p>But I was struck by one difference that was making the software guy look lost, struggle with focus and be unwilling to make choices, while making the hardware guy appear disciplined, cognizant of limits and thoughtful:</p>
<p><strong>Product Constraints</strong></p>
<p>Yes, I’ve heard most every founder/startupper say things like “we’re a startup, so we’ve got to focus,” or “we have limited resources,” or best of all, “start small.” But the reality of software is that it is in many cases unconstrained. Angry Birds could be played in Detroit or Damascus. Salesforce works in Tucson or Tanzania. That’s what’s amazing about software.</p>
<p><strong>Hardware’s Natural Constraints</strong>
I was struck in meeting with these two entrepreneurs how the limitations of building a tangible product forced focus on the hardware entrepreneur. He had just received his prototype and was thinking about how to deploy the first twenty ‘beta versions’ he’d be ordering in the next month. Like incredibly thoughtful – setting up a curriculum for each users, thinking about each test and each experiment and using exclusivity as a hook to sell the next hundred products. He was going to sell and wanted to be sure each sale was making the next phase of the company more successful.</p>
<p>Each product he received was like gold to him – and his care about each customer, user, demonstration, etc. was palpable. </p>
<p>Twenty. That’s it. He literally was going to only make his first order run of 20 so that he could personally call each customer every week. He was building in time so that he could go to their home or office and fix anything. And he was building up a pipeline to do the same for the next 99.</p>
<p><strong>Software’s Lack of Constraints</strong>
In its purest form, software doesn’t have the same constraints as a tangible hardware product. Add more instances in the cloud and you’re fine to scale to infinity. </p>
<p>And that’s the rub. The software engineer flailed about as he looked into the vast ocean of the internet and had no faces, no names and very little focus. Sure, maybe he doesn’t need it, but it was clear in our meeting he didn’t have it. It’s not to say that the software guy isn’t thinking about constraints, but he wasn’t <em>forced</em> to account for it – making his limitations and constraints appear less important.</p>
<p><strong>Create Your Own Constraints</strong>
If you are in the process of creating an app, developing a website or starting any business imagine that you can <em>only</em> deliver your product to 20 people. What sort of care would you give to those first 20? Would you visit them? How would you choose who these 20 are? What do you do to make these people have an experience that they’d rave about you to their friends?</p>
<p>As you think about your company, design something amazing for just a few people. Uber was originally designed to provide on-demand black cars <em>just</em> for Travis and his friends. Pinterest was a custom-designed bookmarking tool for Ben’s mom. And funny enough, our very first, incredibly hacky version of Zaarly was designed as a 5 day tool to be used only for a small audience at SXSW.</p>
<p>How are you building constraints into your business? </p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/up-leveling-a-playing-field-with-a-startup-weekend-startup-america-combination2013-05-23T07:00:31-07:002013-05-23T07:00:31-07:00UP: Leveling a playing field with a Startup Weekend & Startup America combination<p>Startup Weekend and Startup America are <a href="http://startupweekend.org/2013/05/23/announcing-up-global-supporting-entrepreneurs-their-communities/" rel="nofollow">combining forces</a> to create a platform for entrepreneurship. That’s <em>f-ing</em> awesome. More brains, more resources, and more support – all good. </p>
<p><strong>But does UP really matter for entrepreneurs?</strong></p>
<p>As an entrepreneur, I often have asked myself does it matter that there are conferences like TC Disrupt or Launch; does it matter their are coworking spaces like CoLoft or 1871; does it matter there is a place like San Hill Road or the Silicon Beach/Prairie/Alley; or does it matter that there are publications like Techcrunch, Geekwire or Tech Cocktail?</p>
<p><strong>Yup, it does matter.</strong> Starting a company, growing a company or joining an early stage company aren’t really <em>established</em> things yet. It can feel isolating to do these things and as a member of all of those circles above, without support networks, these activities won’t happen as much. Turns out we need each other.</p>
<p><strong>UP Global: It’s like a trade association for people like us.</strong></p>
<p>I feel fortunate to have been the participant in several “startup ecosystems” – all of which were at various points in their lifecycle. In the past 8+ years, I’ve gotten to see four ecosystems up close and personal:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<strong>Seattle</strong>, where I truly got my start as a startup lawyer, an exec at recently acquired Appature and board member/early fanboy of Startup Weekend</li>
<li>
<strong>San Francisco</strong>, where we setup and grew Zaarly, and found some of our investors who believed in the company</li>
<li>
<strong>New York City</strong>, where we opened and then closed a small office for Zaarly, but met as much of the “scene” as possible</li>
<li>and now <strong>Washington, DC</strong>, where I have been a part of the community, taught as a professor of entrepreneurship at Georgetown and now starting up something new that will be based here</li>
</ul>
<p>Each of those places are unique communities that in different ways have created support networks for entrepreneurs, startups, startup employees, investors, etc. That’s why I’m bullish about UP Global (and not just because I’m a board member, 30x participant in Startup Weekend, member of the DC-region Startup America team, and a fan of this ecosystem). I’m bullish because we’re at the start of a great movement called Entrepreneurship that is going to need a bunch of support networks in established places like SF, emerging places like NYC, Seattle and DC, and new communities like Des Moines, Tucson, or even international communities to make each community reach it’s potential.</p>
<p><strong>We aren’t competing against each other; we’re competing against those who don’t believe in the power of entrepreneurship</strong></p>
<p>Having started a company and chosen to base in it in San Francisco, does that mean I think SF is the best? In fact, not at all… but I do think it has the most established community organizations and support networks to help entrepreneurs and startups thrive. </p>
<p>It’s without question that San Francisco is the premier region for high-tech, high-growth startups. That’s an amazing place and that hasn’t changed. Anyone who tells you otherwise is kidding themselves – the Bay Area dominates, it should dominate and if you want to really experience the Candyland of Startups, move there. The reason SF is so strong is that the entire region – even those not remotely involved in tech – embrace it. It’s like how Hollywood embraces film, NYC embraces fashion, and finance and Orlando embraces tourism. </p>
<p>However, not everyone lives in the Bay Area who wants to build companies, tackle big problems, or solve generational challenges. God love the dreamers and I’m glad that entrepreneurship is alive and well in many many places. </p>
<p>Just as important as the people trying to build the next Facebook or Amgen or Tumblr are the people building the ecosystems that support those entrepreneurs. The Startup Weekends and Startup Americas are just one example of these support organizations. That’s what Startup Digest, Geek Wire, TechStars, Steve Blank, 1871, 1776, Tech Wildcatters, etc. etc. etc. are doing. They build an ecosystem – our trade association, if you will. These organizations are the ones who make sure startup ecosystems last.</p>
<p><strong>Today is a celebration and a challenge to us all</strong></p>
<p>It’s a great day to celebrate the platform for entrepreneurship being built – but it’s also a day to remember we have a long ways to go. Nearly four years ago, I left my big cushy law firm job because I was given the opportunity to “try out” entrepreneurship at a safe place called Startup Weekend. I am thankful for the support of all the ecosystem – and realize that I didn’t do it alone. And now I get the opportunity to build more companies that I hope will change the world (even just a little bit) – and help support other entrepreneurs trying to do the same. And I want the help of organizations in Kansas City like the Silicon Prairie News, the Startup House or One Million Cups, in Seattle like Tech Stars, the HUB, or Geek Wire, or in DC like DC Tech Meetup, Tech Cocktail, 1776, Georgetown University and many others to support us – and to help spread the word to the rest of the community.</p>
<p>That’s why I’m excited. And I hope you are too.</p>
<p>So congrats to the hard work of Marc Nager and the Startup Weekend team, and their commitment to continue to build a platform for entrepreneurship. Congrats to the hard work of Steve Case, Scott Case, and the entire Startup America team, and their work in building communities across the country. And finally congrats to entrepreneurship – it’s here and it’s only going to grow. That’s great for us all… </p>
<p>Now let’s go build some amazing stuff. And let’s be sure to support each other along the way.</p>
<h1>letsgo</h1>
<p><img src="http://www.twilio.com/blog/wp-content/blogs.dir/8/files/6a0105364227ca970b014e864c5ebc970d-320wi.jpg" alt="Zaarly team at Startup Weekend LA in CoLoft"></p>
<p><img src="http://assets.bizjournals.com/cms_media/images/learnthatname.jpg?site=techflash.com" alt="Learn that Name team at Startup Weekend Seattle at Microsoft"></p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/appmarket-fit-if-you-arent-on-my-homescreen-your-app-is-probably-a-tombstone2013-04-12T12:11:56-07:002013-04-12T12:11:56-07:00App-Market Fit: If You Aren't On My Homescreen, Your App Is Probably a Tombstone<p>A friend of mine asked me last week, “So, what apps do you use?”</p>
<p>It was a good question, so I whipped out my iPhone and started looking through. I was shocked to see I have 102 apps on my phone. Wow, that’s a lot of apps, I thought to myself. Then I started scrolling through and realized how many of them I hadn’t touched in… well, since I could last remember.</p>
<p>Dead apps. Tombstones of a great app description and a non-compelling solution. </p>
<p>Row after row of dead apps. And surprisingly, all of them lived on screens after my homescreen. The homescreen. Turns out it’s home to all of those apps I’d say I use either daily, weekly or really frequently during short infrequent bursts. iMessage, Google Maps, App Store, Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Couple, Zaarly, Instagram, Tripit and even Tetris (my guilty pleasure while wasting a few minutes). Go one screen in and it’s a wasteland. I did a count and of the ~90 apps not on my homescreen, two I’d used in the past week (Weather &amp; LinkedIn) and four in the last month (Timehop, Bank of America - to deposit a check, Taxi Magic &amp; ParkMobile - to ‘feed the meter’). </p>
<p>Whoa. Six apps out of nearly a hundred I could even recall touching in the past month. A few others I thought I’d use in the future (OpenTable and maybe Flipboard, Uber or Lyft). It’s shocking if you really think about it… I’d say 95% of my app activity is locked onto the home screen. I’m not sure I’d consider myself normal from a smart phone usage pattern, but I wonder if the simplicity of the home screen really is a key. I can honestly say if Apple <em>forced</em> me to only have 16 apps, I could do it… no problem and no issues.</p>
<p><strong>Is there a lesson in here?</strong></p>
<p>Unless you can build a mobile app that your users will and are consistently putting on their homescreen, I don’t think you have App-Market Fit. Even sixteen apps seems like a lot to incorporate into my life. </p>
<p>Breaking my apps by category, here’s what I saw:</p>
<p>– Five (5) <strong>Communication Apps</strong> (iMessage, Couple, Twitter, Tweetbot, Facebook)</p>
<p>– Two (2) <strong>Photo Apps</strong> (Camera, Instagram)</p>
<p>– Two (2) <strong>Travel Apps</strong> (Google Maps, Tripit)</p>
<p>– Two (2) <strong>Productivity Apps</strong> (Calendar, Evernote)</p>
<p>– One (1) <strong>Game</strong> (Tetris)</p>
<p>– Three (3) <strong>Utility Apps</strong> (Settings, App Store, Folder with Calculator+Clock)</p>
<p>– <strong>My Own Company’s App</strong> (Zaarly)</p>
<p><img src="http://i50.tinypic.com/2ez21sm.png" alt="My Homescreen"></p>
<p>The commonalities are that these apps help me communicate, consume content, capture content and live more productively. I’d say all are part of my 'smart-phone’ powered life. I’m not a huge folders guy (in fact the folder on my homescreen is the only one). And I’m a very frequent user of the four bottom bar apps (phone, mail, Safari and Music), and I can’t foresee any of the apps above replacing those four (I even tried Mailbox and was 'meh’ about it).</p>
<p><strong>What would it take to get your app onto my homescreen?</strong> </p>
<p>Well, you’d probably have to bump one of my Twitter clients or the Settings Apps. Do-able. You’d probably be fighting with Open Table, which is “On Deck” in my brain. If I was living in SF again, I’d say you’d be fighting with Lyft or Uber. </p>
<p>If you are building a new app or have an app targeted at smart phone users, I think you need to have a 'home screen’ strategy. It’s great to have 96 apps on my phone, but I am really only patronizing the first 16, plus their four compatriots in the bottom bar. And unless you can convince your users to bump another app and put a spot for you in the 'home’, I’m not convinced you can capture mindshare.</p>
<p>I think there are a few apps that are doing a good job at capturing Home Screen real estate based on what I hear from friends. The taxi and ride apps such as Uber, Lyft, Sidecar and TaxiMagic are common for frequent taxi takers, but still seem part of the tech set for the most part. Instagram and Path are both common ones I see (Path more in the startup/tech scene though). Pandora and Spotify seem common homescreen music apps, and I see a few fitness apps such as MyFitnessPal and Nike on home screens. Yelp, Foursquare and Open Table are each players for real estate. And games continue to be a common one, but there seems to be little commonality there other than Words With Friends, Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies.</p>
<p>Do you have a strategy to get on my homescreen? Is it something you activity “teach” your users, ask for or recommend? Are there any companies that have done a great job at getting on that home screen?</p>
<p>I have no data to back this up, but I’d bet that 80-90% of any app’s Daily Active Users have that app on the home screen. </p>
<p><strong>What is missing from the list?</strong></p>
<p>A better address book could snag a spot – Brewster is trying that route. Hotel Tonight and Hipmunk could snag a spot for travel, but I don’t find myself booking travel on my phone much. I also see a spot potentially for online document management, which is currently being fought by DropBox and Google Drive.</p>
<p>And listen, if you think by blasting me with a bunch of push notifications (glares over at Groupon and Living Social apps) that I’m going to put you on the homescreen, you are sadly mistaken. ;-)</p>
<p>Smart phones are inherently an extension of the owner. My apps are personal to me, but I do think it is common that we spend 90% of our time with 5-10% of our apps. And as you think about your app, figure out how to make something your community and your audience love. If you build and market something mainstream, you’ll find yourself in the app graveyard and then you’ve got a bunch of downloads and an inactive community.</p>
<p><strong>So just what would it take for me to get an app onto your homescreen?</strong></p>
tag:ekoester.com,2014:Post/the-valley-attitude-and-why-you-need-to-get-some-of-it2013-04-04T09:52:55-07:002013-04-04T09:52:55-07:00The 'Valley' Attitude and Why You Need to Get Some of It<p><em>“The Valley is not just a place anymore, it’s a mind set, it’s a way of looking to things.”</em> - Shervin Pishevar (@Shervin)</p>
<p>As someone who has ‘lived’ in three different startup scenes in the past five years (Seattle, San Francisco Bay Area and now DC), I get asked a lot about what separates them all and whether people should just up and move to the Bay Area if they really want to win.</p>
<p><strong>Startups-a-roni, the San Francisco Treat</strong>
There is something incredibly unique in the Bay Area, but it’s not the weather, the tax rates or the smart phone penetration. Turns out, the Bay Area (or the Valley as I sorta hate to call it) has something damn important: attitude. It’s that attitude that pushes people to think longer term, dream a little bigger and team up a little more. It’s a bit of a “we don’t really care what you think unless you are here” vibe. And frankly, it works. I didn’t understand that attitude while I was living in Seattle (I frankly thought it was a bit overrated), but once we plunked Zaarly down in Mint Plaza in SoMa, it became completely clear: the attitude to win is why more Bay Area startups with and is frankly contagious for the entrepreneurs that are living and working in the Bay Area.</p>
<p>It’s not to say that places like Seattle or DC aren’t great ecosystems in their own right. They are both creating companies and will foster startups, and I’m more impressed every day by the startups I’m seeing. BUT, you won’t get the attitude I see in 'Valley’ entrepreneurs without spending some quality time with the people that make up the SF scene. I’d even go so far as to say that NYC has a touch of that attitude, but it’s not quite pervasive like I’ve experienced in San Francisco. You get the sense that it’s okay to dream big, talk a little crazy, and maybe screw up royally… but everyone else is doing it so it’s cool. That’s the attitude.</p>
<p><strong>So You’re Saying I Should Just Up and Move to SF?</strong>
Okay, so just what am I saying here? Am I playing the violin and saying 'so sad for you’ if you live in Peoria or Dallas or LA? No, far from it. In fact, I think today more than ever it is okay to live wherever you are and start a company there (as Steve Case says, “It’s the rise of the rest.”) Instead, I’m saying any entrepreneur or startup person should be spending time in the Bay Area or with people who are from or have that Bay Area attitude. It’s a bit hard to describe, but you want to develop that same attitude that says, “It’s a bit crazy, but let’s give it a shot.” </p>
<p>Getting and living that 'Valley’ attitude requires a bit of a different thought process. That may mean you forgo the safe lead gen revenue model for a shot at building a transactional marketplace. Or that may mean you decide to join four other talented people to cofound something rather founding five smaller companies. Or that may mean you move to SF for a month and just meet, learn and experience before you really start your company.</p>
<p><strong>Rise of the Rest; Learn from the Best</strong>
Okay, that was super cheezy and I apologize. But it sorta works. While I’ve met and hung out with great entrepreneurs in Seattle and new friends and entrepreneurs in DC, the ones that I’d invest in are those that embrace the uniqueness of the 'Valley’ attitude. And I don’t think that’s to say they need to up and move their companies to San Francisco – it’s just that they are attending conferences, drinking with SF-based entrepreneurs, talking to investors on Sand Hill Road, and embracing what is going on there. And I don’t mean like doing an investor pitch session, but actually going to Sightglass or Blue Bottle or Coupa Cafe or Rosewood to talk with people and feel/experience their enthusiasm.</p>
<p>I’m bullish on the fact that entrepreneurship is being democratized in places like Des Moines or Tucson or Boulder or Detroit. But I believe that startup companies that move the needle, need to experience and “get” why the Valley attitude has been going strong for the past couple decades. </p>
<p>So get out there. Setup some coffees, some lunches, some meetups and some tours. There are plenty of great entrepreneurs, investors and community members who would love to show you around. It’s an investment in attitude worth making.</p>